


things she knows

by nereid



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1769077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nereid/pseuds/nereid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>they're cops and they're heroes and they don't do gentle, no sir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	things she knows

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: congratulations on the mess you've made of things

Things Charlie knows:

It's confusing sometimes for her, being in her own head, and Briggs is part of what's confusing her (and sometimes most of what is confusing her) and he never does anything to make any of it easier for her.

 

 

Things Charlie knows:

Paul Briggs is like solving a Rubik's cube. You're just about to make your move, do something that you think will solve everything when all of a sudden, something turns out somewhere unexpected, and it's not something that you thought could ever happen. But you take a breath and give it another look and you go on and you learn a new lesson every time.

 

(Reasons number 1 to 27 why Paul Briggs is not exactly like solving a Rubik's cube: Paul Briggs doesn't get boring. Reasons number 28 to 99 why Paul Briggs is not exactly like solving a Rubik's cube: with Paul Briggs you're never really finished. There's always at least one more move left.)

 

But things change and some things get clearer and some are not as clear as they were.

 

 

Things Charlie knows:

She used to think Paul Briggs was a god. She was young and he wasn't as young and he knew things she wanted to know herself one day and he could assemble a single-barelled shotgun faster than she could and sometimes did it with his eyes closed, because he was that much of a show off.

 

(This does not matter now, though, because Briggs also might be a drug dealer, and it doesn't impress her if dealers are good at things, dealers belong in jail, and if he is one, well then she'll put him in there herself.)

 

 

Things Charlie knows:

She used to think Briggs looked like an angel if she looked at him from the right angle. She would look at him sometimes while he changed and helped him if he needed help with his torn clothes, sticky with someone else's blood and sometimes his as well and the smell of bullets and ash and death with them in the room. He had scars everywhere and she traced some of them with her fingers and then lost herself in thought and touch and skin and he would say her name, Charlie, he'd call out for her and then she'd remember this wasn't supposed to be happening, so she would punch him playfully instead, because they're cops and they're heroes and they don't do gentle, no sir.

 

 

Things Charlie knows:

They do gentle sometimes.

Not immediately, first it's all her pushing Briggs against the wall and her fingers digging into his neck and Briggs tearing off her shirt, needing to breath and not wanting to breath at the same time, Briggs biting her everywhere and Charlie trying to touch as much skin as she can, _they teach you this in the Bureau?_ , _no, this is all me_.

They do gentle later, when they've made it to the bed finally and Briggs still looks like an angel when she looks at him from the right angle and he kisses her forehead and then lies down next to her and he's looking at the room and all this, he's looking at them really,

_we made a mess, didn't we?_  
 _don't we always?_  
( _won't we always?_ )


End file.
